“So she danced all day to amuse them, and sang a song about a Mr. Hawk being very good, with beautiful, curving feathers; and how sorry she was for not accepting him as her husband. Every morning they wanted to kill and eat her; but she danced and sang to please them.
“One day Mr. Hawk passed that way, and, looking down, saw the woman, heard her song, and felt full of pity for her. He told her parents of their daughter’s danger, and promised to save her. Next day, therefore, he flew off, swooped down, and carried her back to her own family, who were glad to receive her amongst them again. After a time she married Mr. Hawk, and never any more found fault with the colour of his face.”
“There,” continued the narrator, “your niece will be sorry she did not marry me when she is badly treated by some dandy who has borrowed his beauty from other people. Give me eighty pieces of cloth and I will release her.”
To him Satu replied, with a laugh: “I will take care that no such dandy marries my niece and carries her off to a distant country. Besides, my niece is not so foolish as to make friends with any swells (etoko dia fioti) on the market.” Satu offered twenty-eight pieces and the other articles, and asserted that he would not put another fathom on the price.
They argued about the affair all that afternoon and for the two succeeding days, and at last it was agreed that Satu should pay thirty-five pieces of cloth to the old man, one pig, one keg of gunpowder, one soldier’s coat, one gun, and a calabash of palm-wine, and thus the palaver was settled to every one’s satisfaction.
A month or two after the release of Sono, a young chief of a neighbouring village arrived, followed by a man carrying a large calabash of palm-wine. Bakula greeted him, and walked with him to Satu’s house. There the young man asked for Satu, who, on appearing, received homage from the chief and inquired his business.
“I very much wish to marry your niece, Sono,” replied the young man, “and I have brought a calabash of palm-wine to start the negotiations. Will you drink it?”
If Satu had refused to drink the wine the young chief would have taken it away, knowing that there was not the smallest hope of him ever marrying into Satu’s family; but Satu did not refuse the wine; he accepted it, and sat down and drank it with the suitor for his niece’s hand.
Having drunk the wine, Satu sent for some food, so that the young chief might refresh himself for his return journey; and without giving him a decided answer he told his niece’s admirer to come back in four days. So far Satu had not pledged himself, but had simply listened favourably to the suit.
On the appointed day the chief, carrying more palm-wine, returned to Satu, who, having drunk the wine, informed the aspirant to his niece’s hand that he was quite willing to regard him as a suitable husband for Sono if all other matters could be arranged; and that the marriage money would be fifty pieces of cloth, two blankets, one pig, fifty brass rods, and five round looking-glasses.